More WITCH Adv 3: The Worm at Universe's End
by donki-shouben
Summary: Searching for the missing Empress, the Guardians are trapped in the one place their powers can’t help them! And the Worm from WITCH Adventures Stolen Spring isn’t making things any easier! Can the Guardians survive the world of two hells?


More W.I.T.C.H. Adventures 3: The Worm At The End Of The Universe

by Shawn Q. Evans

W.I.T.C.H. and related characters copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.

_Featuring the Worm from W.I.T.C.H. Adventures Stolen Spring, available on Amazon_

(This story occurs directly after The Empress Of The World)

(This is the new & improved version of the story)

_Previously: In More W.I.T.C.H. Adventures 1: The Queen Of Infinity, the sorceress known as the Queen took over Candracar. The Guardians barely defeated her, and learned she had help escaping her prison. _

_In More W.I.T.C.H. Adventures 2: The Empress Of The World, the Queen's accomplice, the Empress Bug, attacked the Guardians and Heatherfield with her army of insects. The Empress would have won, too, if Will hadn't done the most unexpected thing ever - she literally 'turned off' the world!_

Heatherfield, in the aftermath of the battle against the Empress' insect horde.

The Empress had hurt them like no villain ever had. She had taken over four of them and had very nearly defeated them all! Not to mention totally devastating their hometown and terrorizing the neighbors!

The five Guardians, transformed back into human form, discussed their next step.

"We can't let her get away with this!" exclaimed Irma.

"Irma's right!" stated Cornelia.

"Why, thank you, Corny!" added Irma.

"Don't let it get to your head, Irma!" retorted Cornelia. "Will, we can't let this fester like that whole Nerissa thing!"

"What do you suggest?" asked Will. "We have no idea where she's gone!"

"Or if she still exists!" piped in the naive Hay Lin.

At that suggestion, Will blanched and the others looked uncomfortable.

They weren't sure what had happened to cause the Empress to vanish. Only that Will was somehow responsible. Doubtless, it wasn't anything good! They had tried to avoid the subject, and now Hay Lin had brought it up.

"Hay Lin!" scolded Cornelia.

"What?" said the innocent Hay Lin, who then spied the pained look on her friend Will's face. "Oh."

It was Taranee, the 'smart one', who saved the day.

"Guys," announced Taranee, "we can use scrying to find out where the Empress is!"

"Yeah!" chirped Irma. "That oughtta work!"

"It's certainly worth a shot!" added Cornelia.

"We have to give it a try!" agreed Hay Lin.

"Will?" asked Taranee, eyeing the uncertainty in their leader's face.

"If you guys are sure about this, then I am too!" said Will, brightening, a smile forming at her lips.

That reaction from Will lifted her teammates' spirits, and they set to work.

And no one noticed the smile leave Will's face.

Hay Lin shot her hand up into the sky and concentrated. A swift wind blew.

"She's moved beyond the air."

Cornelia placed a hand upon the ground. The ground shook.

"She's moved beyond the earth!"

Irma peered into a pool of water. The water swirled into a whirlpool.

"She's moved beyond the water."

And Taranee passed her palm through flame. The flame flared up.

"And she's moved beyond fire!"

"Then where could she be?" queried Irma.

Will held the Heart of Candracar and meditated.

"You're right!" announced Will. "She has moved beyond air, earth, water and fire. But she isn't beyond life! I know where she is. I can feel her!"

"Will", began the skeptical Cornelia, "with all due respect, if the Empress has moved beyond the elements, how can you find her? It doesn't make sense!"

"Am I lying, then?" challenged Will. "I'm not the one who wanted to find her!"

"I didn't say you were lying!" said the incredulous Cornelia. "I just..."

"You were confused, right, Cornelia?" jumped in peacemaker Taranee. "Because you didn't understand how someone could exist beyond the elements. But you trust Will's judgment, don't you?"

"Of course!" replied Cornelia.

"Then it's settled!" broadcasted Irma. "We're going after the Empress!"

And so, after readying astral drops to live their rather ordinary home and school lives in Heatherfield, the girls gathered around Will, who held the Heart in front of her and uttered the words that unlocked their magical selves: "Guardians Unite!"

Then each Guardian exclaimed their totemic words of transformation.

"Water!"

"Fire!"

"Earth!"

"Air!"

"Quintessence!"

Thus prepared for their journey, Will then asked the Heart of Candracar to take them to the Empress.

The next moment they were gone from our world...

...and on another.

A world with little air.

A world whose only water was frozen.

A world of endless, lifeless rock, covered in glaciers of ice.

In short, a dead, frozen world, with the most inhospitable environment imaginable.

"Where-where are we?" shivered Irma, holding herself in an attempt to keep warm.

"The Empress is beyond the elements, remember?" pointed out Taranee. "That must mean she's on another planet!"

"No, she's not!" corrected Will. "She's up there!" said Will, pointing at the orbiting ship passing overhead.

"Then h-how do we get up there?" said the teeth-chattering Cornelia.

"I'll tele-tansport us!" said Will, matter-of-factly.

Will held the Heart up, and then...

Nothing happened.

Will tried again and again, but with the same result. No go.

"I don't understand! I'm not the greatest at tele-transporting, but something should have happened!" said the puzzled Keeper of the Heart.

"Maybe tele-transporting doesn't work in this dimension, Will!" added Taranee.

"If we can't get the Empress from here, can we please go back home!" whined Irma. "At the very least, to pick up winter coats!"

"Sure!" replied Will. "No problem!"

But the Heart refused to fold them back home.

Then it dawned on them all at once - it was a trap!

And they had walked right into it!

Taranee, dealing with the most immediate problem, provided fire to warm them up.

But the fire was weak, since there was little atmosphere on the planet.

And the Empress' ship continued to race across the sky, getting further and further away.

"Hurry up, guys!" ordered Cornelia. "That ship's probably our only way out of here!"

"Cornelia, wait!" pleaded Taranee. "That spaceship is too fast and too far away! We'll never catch it like that!"

"I can't believe you would give up so easy like that, Taranee!" scolded Cornelia.

"I'm not!" disagreed Taranee. "But facts are facts! And here's another one - at the speed it's going, it'll probably complete a revolution and be back in a few hours! Sooner, if we go the other way!"

So the Guardians set off in the opposite direction, secure in the hope that they could somehow survive a trek across this awful dead world, reach a space station and find their way back home.

Because the alternative was too horrible to contemplate.

As they hiked across the ice fields, Taranee would break off frozen pieces and pass them to the rest of the Guardians to suck on for liquid sustenance. The taste was terrible, as it wasn't pure water, but water mixed with impurities like methane.

It was a taxing, grueling hike. Because, in spite of Taranee's fire, the cold was chilly enough to seep into their bones and sap their strength.

And they couldn't stop, or the cold might have claimed them. They had to keep going.

The trip passed mostly in silence. They had little to say to each other. Mainly, they thought of getting back to their home, to their families and schoolfriends.

Oh sure, Irma tried to make a joke. Something about who had the biggest ice balls. But it elicited nary a response.

Even the normally cheerful Hay Lin was less than her ebullient self.

And Cornelia? Almost colder than the ice that surrounded them.

Only Taranee could approach anything like enjoyment of the dire situation. She was on another planet! Sure, it stunk that they could die here, but still! And the stars looked so close! It really was fascinating.

Seeing binary stars, an idea occurred to her.

"Hey, Will?" Taranee started.

"Yeah?" replied Will.

"I've been thinking about what happened back on Earth, you know, with your power and the Empress. I think it's binary. The binary numbers one and zero represent on and off. That's like an electrical switch, so maybe your powers…"

"Just stop it, Taranee!" squeaked Will.

"Huh?" said Taranee.

"You always think you know what's going on, but you don't! No one does!" barked Will. "Just leave it alone!"

"Sor-ry!" said the miffed Guardian of Fire.

Truthfully, Will wasn't mad at her friend.

She was mad at herself.

It was her decision to come here.

Sure, they 'talked her into it', but she can't blame them. It was her choice. Will was the leader, and she didn't lead well. Hopefully, they'll make it out in one piece.

Hopefully.

Finally, after hours that felt like days, they spotted the ship over the perpetually dark horizon.

"Look!" shouted Hay Lin. "There it is!"

The bubbly Hay Lin then gathered everyone up in a ball of air, both to protect them from the vacuum of space and to make it easier for Hay Lin to transport them through the atmosphere.

Upward they soared, Hay Lin lifting them all aloft.

Through the troposphere (what there was of it).

Through the stratosphere.

Through the mesosphere and the ionosphere and the exosphere...

Well, not through that last one.

The lack of air proved troubling for Hay Lin.

Not the breathing part. She had that covered, with air readily available at her mouth.

But with next to no air at that elevation, she had nothing to propel her.

As she and the ball of air containing the Guardians started to float in weightlessness, she lost control of the ball.

Then the airless vacuum of space, which had been pressing in on all sides, finally burst their bubble.

And Hay Lin, and all of the other Guardians, fell to Earth (or whatever this cursed world was called)!

Preoccupied with falling from space, and with extremely little atmosphere to work with, Hay Lin couldn't re-form the ball for Will, Irma, Cornelia and Taranee.

Luckily, even though she was falling, Hay maintained enough presence of mind to pass some of her personal air supply to her fellows.

Which precipitated another problem.

For as they re-entered the atmosphere, their oxygen began to combust!

"Hay Lin!" cried Taranee, both telepathically and at the top of her lungs, trying to be heard over the roar of the wind. "You've got to keep the air away from us, or we're gonna burn!"

Hay Lin had hoped to fly them back up, for another try. She wasn't quite sure how they would fare any differently a second time, although she did flirt with, however briefly, the idea of launching the bubble at the station. This would mean, of course, sacrificing herself. But anything for her friends.

At the very least, she thought, she could fly them down.

Circumstances, though, dictated she use her powers to move all the usually precious, life-giving but now _life-threatening_ oxygen far from them!

So they fell (without burning up, which, all things considered, was pretty good), and they fell, holding their breath the entire time.

When they could hold their breath no more, they would briefly open their mouth and gasp for air. Briefly, because, what air there was, burned their lungs.

As they approached impact with the surface, Taranee thought-blasted an urgent message to Cornelia.

"_Corny!_" broadcasted Taranee. "_We're going to need help on the landing, or we'll go splat!_"

"_Now you're calling me Corny, too?_" thought the miffed Cornelia.

"_Cornelia_..." thought an exasperated Taranee.

"_Right. I got it. No problem." _thought back the now-centered Cornelia.

Although it was more of a problem than she'd ever admit.

"_Uh oh._" thought Cornelia.

While Cornelia could easily levitate them (as long as she was near the ground, that is), she couldn't arrest the speed at which they were falling. Physics can be a real #$&!

"_Is there a problem, Cornelia?_" thought-asked Taranee.

"_No, I...I know what to do_." thought-replied a none-too-confident Cornelia.

So Cornelia mentally reached out to the crust of the planet below, _beneath_ the ice, and commanded it to rise up!

Up and up rose the column of rock, breaking its icy bonds and soaring into the sky.

Down and down fell the Guardians, their velocity very nearly terminal.

Then, when it seemed as if the Guardians were about to smash into little bits on the stony skyscraper, the plastered pillar dropped at almost the same speed as the Guardians.

With the column of earth matching their speed, the Guardians 'landed' as gently as possible. As gently as one could on a big pile of rock, that is!

But their journey wasn't over yet.

With the Guardians firmly ensconced on the still-falling rock, Cornelia slowed its descent.

It was too late, however, for her to completely stop the drop of the huge stony mass, and it plowed into the surface of the planet, raising clouds of dust as it did.

"Well, _ptui!_", quipped the sarcastic Water Guardian, spitting out pebbles, "that could have gone better!"

"Not now, Irma!" said the irritated Cornelia. "Will, shouldn't we try again?"

"I think it's a little late for that!" replied Will, pointing at the receding artificial satellite getting tinier and tinier in the nighttime sky. "We'll have to press on and get it the next time around!"

Unspoken, they all thought, "They had better, or...there won't be a next time!"

So the Guardians trudged on, mindful of their situation and what they had to do.

And they tried not to think how difficult their task was, and how low the odds were of success, of getting back home.

Finally, one Guardian could have no more.

Stopping, Irma plopped herself onto a bed of ice.

"Guys, hold up!" Irma pleaded. "Can't we just sit here and wait for that thing to come back?"

"You know we can't do that, Irma." reasoned Will. "The cold will...well, it's bad. We have to keep moving!"

"I know, but...just one minute?" begged Irma.

Seeing the weariness in Irma and in the eyes of her other friends, Will agreed.

"Okay." said Will. "But just a minute."

After the minute had elapsed, Will helped her friend back onto her feet and they all continued their perilous, bone-weary journey.

The seat of ice Irma left behind bore mute testimony to what happens to water that 'sits around' a while.

Then, just when they were at their lowest, with their muscles aching and their brains wondering if they could muster the will to take another step, they saw something they never expected!

Light!

And not just any light, but sunlight!

Immediately, their spirits lifted. For where there was sunlight, there must be heat.

And life! Maybe there was someone on this iceball of a planet after all!

Then something else caught their eye. A commotion in the distant atmosphere where the light was coming from!

Something was rising up into the air, leaving contrails through the sky.

They were mystified. What could it be? Although it did look rather pretty.

Once again, Taranee had the answer.

"Guys, find cover!" Taranee shouted. "It's steam!"

"It's what?" replied Cornelia, not quite sure she heard Taranee correctly.

"When the sun hits, all of this ice is going to melt!"

"And that's a bad thing?" asked Irma.

"When the ground collapses beneath your feet, making you fall and break your neck, or burying you beneath tons of debris, yeah, I'd say that's bad!" answered Taranee.

"Point." replied Irma.

Cornelia immediately burrowed into the permafrost, seeking to create a safe underground shelter in a secluded canyon they believed the sun wouldn't reach.

But the sunlight advanced rapidly, and the ice up above them on the mountains cracked and fell on top of them.

Taranee zapped the relatively small pieces (if boulder-size can be said to be small, 'relative' or not) of ice before it could harm them.

As the sun rose, however, and its heat output increased, the whole frozen mountain disintegrated.

They looked up, Will, Irma, Taranee and Hay Lin did (Cornelia, their telekinetic, was otherwise occupied digging their new home), unsure of how to stop the mobile home-sized weapons of their destruction.

Sure, Taranee thought, she could blast some apart with fire. But what about the rest? Heck, even if she got all of the huge projectiles, the 'small' pieces remaining could still flatten them!

Then, as if in answer to their prayers, the same sun that caused their predicament came to their rescue.

Partially.

The ice, now baked by the sun, turned to water.

A veritable deluge of water, that would have drowned them all, had not the Water Guardian sprang into action.

"Finally!" cheered Irma. "Something I can handle!"

Adrenaline having kicked in, all thoughts of weariness and aching muscles were put out of mind.

Irma acted swiftly, spiraling the oncoming waves around them and above them.

Irma's rotating wall of water not only prevented the cascading water from flooding them, but also served to break the fall of anything else toppling on their heads.

Irma, having saved the day, bowed and accepted her applause with her usual modesty.

"Thank you! Thank you!" crowed Irma. "Don't send cards, send money!"

The immediate danger over, the Guardians retreated to the safety of their newly-constructed bunker to wait out the destructive sunrise.

When the terra forming caused by the arrival of sunlight was over, however, the Guardians emerged from their hideyhole and looked out onto a much different world.

The tremendous heat from this world's sun caused all of the ice to not only melt, but to sublimate instantly, to change from ice to water vapor immediately, leaving nothing but a barren, rocky landscape.

A desert world of stifling heat and wind-blasted rock that seemed to stretch on to forever.

They had just traded one dangerous, dead world for another.

And they couldn't go back to the frozen hell they had left. The sun traveled faster than they did, erasing the ice-strewn landscape behind them.

They had only one choice - to press on into this sun-baked world and hope for the best.

Irma, of course, had the best quip of the day.

"Wow", observed Irma, "kinda gives a whole new meaning to the term 'baked Alaska'!"

They tried to conceal what water they could save from Irma's life-saving stunt in the fold of their Guardian outfits, sparing it the sun's heat and preventing it from evaporating.

It would likely be another long trek, and they would need all the water they could get.

Taranee tried something new, to absorb heat and prevent combustion, but as it was a new application of her powers, she wasn't sure of its effectiveness. Or even if it mattered, on a world like this where the sun loomed so large overhead it appeared to be mocking her efforts.

They pushed on, believing in their hearts it can't get worse than this.

Their hopes would be dashed.

Hay Lin, flying point, saw it first.

A dark, swirling mass on the horizon.

"Uh oh!" announced Hay Lin to the other Guardians. "Dust storm!"

Soon, it was upon them! Flying dust, stone and pebbles pelted them in all directions and got in their noses and mouths, very nearly causing them to choke.

Hay Lin tried to divert the dust storm away from them, and succeeded in moving the majority of the storm out of their way, but she found it very difficult.

Her powers, for some reason, were getting weaker.

When the storm had passed, it was a testament to Hay Lin's strength and determination that she and the other Guardians were still in one piece, while nearby environs weren't as lucky.

Although Irma didn't quite agree.

"_Ptui! _" Irma spat. "Wonderful. More dust to eat. Must be this world's delicacy."

"Hay Lin", asked Will, gently, "what just happened?"

"I don't know, Will." replied Hay Lin. "I should have been able to handle that! It's like my powers are getting weaker!"

"You must be tired." said Will. "That's all."

None of them wanted to consider the alternative. Because if Hay Lin lost her powers, they were stuck on this world forever, since she was the only one who could fly.

Unless...

"Will...", Taranee asked the leader of the team, "any change with the Heart?"

"No!" replied a frustrated Will Vandom. "I must have tried hundreds of times already, and it's always the same! I can't fold, and I can't contact the Oracle!"

"We're on our own here, Taranee." said Will, head bowed.

"I know, Will, I know." said Taranee, reassuringly. "But don't worry! We've faced worse and come out on top!"

"Really?" uttered Will. "When?"

For once, Taranee didn't have an answer.

As their continued their trip, they agreed on one thing - frozen hell was better than burning hell.

To protect themselves, the Guardians each ripped off a piece of their enchanted garments and wrapped it around their heads. That way, their faces would be shielded both from the boiling sun and the constantly swirling dust that assaulted their eyes, mouths and nasal passages, and would frequently kick up into a full-fledged dust storm.

Ordinarily, in a situation like this Cornelia would make some silly statement about their fashion choices, and Irma would reply sarcastically, but neither quite had the energy for it.

Not only was it unbearably hot, with no shade at all save the occasional cloud of dust (much smaller than the monster dust storm they had managed to survive previously, thank God, yet still rather intense), but their water ran out and they could feel themselves becoming more feeble by the minute.

Will tried to use the Heart of Candracar to boost their powers, but it had no effect because they were already in their transformed aspects.

Their journey to intercept the spaceship became a journey to find water.

Or civilization.

Anything that would help to keep them alive.

"Here." Cornelia intoned quietly, as she was becoming rather weak. "We have to dig here."

"Are you crazy, Cornelia?" Irma deadpanned. "If there's one thing I know, it's water, and there's none here!"

"Maybe it's buried deep! I don't know!" Cornelia harshly replied. "But this is where we have to dig!"

"Are you absolutely certain, Cornelia?" asked Will. "If we stop and dig here, I don't know if we'll have the energy to find another spot and try again."

"I'm sure, Will!" Cornelia stated. "Well, as sure as I can be about anything on this crazy world!"

"Joy." said the sarcastic Irma.

"Everyone - we're digging here." ordered the cool (and practically burning up) Will.

With their powers at their lowest ebb, and scarcely able to generate a lick of flame (not that they'd want to on this hellish world) or a drop of water, they had to use their hands to gouge the earth and scoop out the rock and dirt that covered the surface.

They dug and they excavated and they dug some more.

Finally, they could go no further.

Cornelia, the Earth Guardian, unable to telekinetically stir even a grain of dust, continued to claw at the soil with her fingers, convinced they were close to salvation.

She asked for assistance, but the other Guardians were unable to move and close to collapse.

"Guys, you have to help me!" pleaded Cornelia. "We need to do this, but I can't do it alone!"

"But Cornelia..." gasped Will. "We're so tired. Are you sure?"

"Yes! Please, help me!" begged the raspy-voiced Cornelia (who never begs. Anyone. Ever). "We can't quit now!"

"Who you...calling a quitter?" croaked Irma.

So all of Cornelia's fellow Guardians, though exhausted physically and mentally, rallied to her side and did their best to help her.

The Fire Guardian, Taranee, reduced the heat around Cornelia so she could keep her strength up, before Taranee could take no more of the hellish environment and passed out.

Hay Lin the Air Guardian managed to send fresh air to Cornelia's lungs so she could continue her quest to find water, before Hay Lin, too, succumbed to the awful conditions.

Water Guardian Irma squeezed a few drops of fresh water out of the dry atmosphere so Cornelia could continue to fight for them, before Irma, too, fainted.

And Will, holder of the Heart of Candracar and wielder of energy, tried to send a jolt of energy to Cornelia by uttering the words 'Quintessence'.

But she lost consciousness before she could get that long word past her lips.

All alone, Cornelia was unable to dig any deeper, and the conditions finally took their toll. She blanked out before she could locate any water.

She awoke to Hay Lin's shriek.

"Ah! Get them off! Get the off!" yelled Hay Lin, jumping around.

Cornelia, curious, arose and gently picked off the brown slugs that were on her own body.

She looked around and saw that slugs were on the others, also.

"What the?" voiced Cornelia.

"Hay Lin!" said Cornelia in a confident, strong tone. "Calm down! These are only slugs!"

Hay Lin must have been flashing back to what the Empress did to her, but after she got over the initial shock, she was okay.

Hay Lin's outburst also woke the others.

"Cornelia, what?" said the groggy Will to her friend looming over her.

"I didn't find water, Will." answered Cornelia. "But guess what? This world isn't as dead as we thought!"

"Wha-yaa!" yelped Will, when she found the slugs on her.

"Isn't that great?" said the beaming Cornelia.

"Oh yeah! Really great!" said the sarcastic Irma, shedding the slugs from her skin. "We were supposed to be looking for water, not Sammy the Slug!"

"Lighten up, Irma!" barked Cornelia. "At least we're not near-death anymore! We've got another chance!"

"Still don't have our powers back!" whined Irma, who tried and failed to form water in her palm.

"Irma's right!" joined in Hay Lin. "I still can't fly!"

"But Cornelia's right, too!" chimed in Will. "We have been given another chance. Let's make the best of it!"

"On the bright side", Irma joked, "we've got all the worms we could ever need!"

"Huh?" sputtered Cornelia. "Did you say...worms?"

"Yeah!" agreed Taranee, holding one of the creatures up. "They do look kind of familiar, don't they?"

"That worm!" bellowed Cornelia, remembering the trouble caused by the Worm on Phylia. "No wonder we got so weak! Where is he?"

Cornelia spun around and started to search for the one creature she thought was responsible for their condition.

"Cornelia, what are you doing?" asked Will.

"It's the Worm, Will!" replied Cornelia. "From Phylia! He's here! And doing this to us! We have to find him!"

With all the Guardians searching, they soon locate him.

Trying to burrow under a rock.

At least he was still the same size they left him at, and not as long as a 100-boxcar train.

Holding him up to her face, Cornelia demanded answers.

"Talk, worm!" demanded Cornelia. "What's going on? Why are you here?"

Which was kind of funny, since worms don't talk.

So imagine how shocked Cornelia and the others were when he responded.

Telepathically.

"_You're doomed, Guardians!_ " thought the Worm. "_You'll never get off this world!_ "

"Hey!" said the shocked Cornelia. "You can't talk to me that way!"

"Uh, guys?" offered Hay Lin. "I think they're trying to say something, too!"

Hay Lin pointed to the slugs who had formed a semicircle around the Guardians.

"What do you think they want?" asked Will.

"Isn't it obvious?" offered Irma. "They're working with the Worm! They're in cahoots!"

"No, I think Hay Lin's right!" said the studious Taranee. "I think they are trying to communicate with us!"

"Could I eat some?" inquired Irma. "It's totally fear factorish, but I don't care! I'm starving!"

"Is that all you ever think about?" retorted Cornelia. "Food?"

"No!" rejected Irma. "I think about boys, and being a radio god, and...did I say boys?"

"Guys! Shush!" commanded Will. "Taranee, what were you saying about them communicating?"

"Makes sense, Will!" replied Taranee. "If they're the same species as the Worm, and he's telepathic, then they probably are, too! I've been trying to reach them with my thoughts, but with our powers diminished, it's hard! All I'm picking up is one word. Sounds like...free?"

"Maybe 'cause they're free of the ground, since Cornelia dug them up?" guessed Hay Lin.

"Maybe..." said Will, their leader. "Or maybe, they're asking us to set them free!"

"I think you're onto something, Will!" replied Taranee.

"You...you little worm!" exclaimed Cornelia, not as quick with the quip as Irma.

Staring with angry eyes at the worm in her grasp, Cornelia demanded of the nefarious nematode "What's your game? What are you doing to them?"

But the Worm held his silence.

Holding the Heart up to the Worm, Will offered her theory.

"Feels like...he's blocking them somehow. If the Heart can remove that block..." said Will.

"Does this mean I can't eat them?" cracked the semi-serious Irma.

"Quintessence!" exclaimed the hopeful Will.

Light flared out of the Heart, bathing the Worm and the slugs on the ground in its pink-hued brilliance.

When the light faded, the Guardians were surprised to find...nothing happened.

"Oh no!" cried Will. "It didn't work! I'm sorry, guys!"

"It's not your fault, Will! It's that Worm!" shouted an angry Cornelia. "Look at him! I bet he's laughing at us!"

"If you'd calm down, Cornelia, and listen, you'd hear something else!" said the tart-tongued Taranee. "As the fire elemental, I know the sun should be providing energy to these little guys, but it's not! I bet the Empress affected their whole ecosystem!"

"Taranee's right!" agreed Hay Lin, placing her hand in the air. "The wind feels...wrong."

"And the water vapor in the air doesn't...flow properly." added Irma, as a drop of water condensed from the thin vapor in the atmosphere made a wobbly spiral from her finger before evaporating in the heated air.

"Yeah, you're right." stated Cornelia, her palm upon the ground. "Life on this world, what there is of it, has been altered!"

"What does it mean?" asked Hay Lin.

"Any world, Hay, even this one, exists in a delicate balance." responded Taranee. "We thought this world was lifeless and beyond air, water, fire and earth because the Empress upset the whole web of life on this planet..."

"So we have to re-weave the web!" interjected the jubilant Hay Lin.

"That's one way of putting it!" replied Taranee.

"By working together..." added Cornelia.

"...We can break the Empress' and Worm's block and fix what they broke!" said Irma, finishing Cornelia's sentence.

As the Guardians gathered together, one stood aloof from the group.

"Will?" asked Taranee. "Aren't you coming?"

"Are you sure you want me?" said the depressed holder of the Heart. "Aren't you worried I'll mess up again?"

"What are you talking about?" said Cornelia.

"What she said!" added Irma. "Not that I'll make a habit of repeating her!"

"Come on, Will, we couldn't do this without you!" said a smiling Hay Lin.

"Really?" said a surprised Will.

"Yes!" the four elemental Guardians shouted.

"OK, guys! Sorry to get all woe-is-me for a second there!" said Will, brandishing the Heart in front of the group so they could all touch it and combine their elemental energies. "Let's do it!"

"Air!" cried Hay Lin.

"Water!" yelped Irma.

"Fire!" exclaimed Taranee.

"Earth!" shouted Cornelia.

"Quintessence!" uttered the confident Keeper of the Heart of Candracar.

As before, light flared out of the Heart, bathing the Worm and the slugs on the ground in its brilliance.

But this time, it was a pure, white light, as all of the transformative, life-giving energies were combined.

And then the light grew in scope.

It grew to cover the area surrounding them.

Then the sunlit part of the planet.

Then the Guardians' raw, elemental light covered the entire icy, and hot, world!

And on a spaceship high above the planet, a woman recoiled from the glare.

"Aahhh!" she cried, covering her multi-faceted eyes.

Back in the desert, when the light finally faded, the Guardians were greeted with a sight they will never forget.

The slugs shed their brown shells and flew into the sky on wings that reflected, refracted and diffused the light of the sun.

The many colors and shapes thus created by these magnificent creatures was…

Well, Hay Lin described it best.

"Oh my!" cheered Hay Lin. "They're, they're…beautiful!"

"They weren't slugs or worms at all!" commented Taranee. "They were like caterpillars!"

"They're the most wonderful butterflies I've ever seen!" enthused Hay Lin.

"They're not exactly butterflies, Hay Lin." pointed out Cornelia. "I don't see any flowers around."

"Well, since they come out when the sun is shining, let's call them Sunflyers!" offered Hay Lin.

"Still want to eat them, Irma?" cracked Cornelia.

"Must I be judged for everything that comes out of my mouth?" replied Irma.

"Afraid so!" shot back Cornelia, smiling.

As they watched the Sunflyers dance through the sun-filled sky, soaring and darting hither and yon, their wings painting the heavens a rainbow of color, the Guardians knew only awe and joy.

Awe in what they were seeing.

Joy in that they had freed an enslaved peoples.

It was an infectious joy.

Soon, Hay Lin was up above, dancing with the Sunflyers, and squealing like the schoolgirl she was.

"Wheee!" laughed Hay Lin.

"Hay Lin?" wondered Cornelia. "Flying?"

"Yes!" exulted Irma, water spiraling perfectly over her hand. "Our powers are back! Whoo hoo!"

"Better be careful, Hay Lin!" cautioned the smirking Irma as she observed Hay Lin's aerobatics. "I think that's a mating dance, and you don't want to give them the wrong idea!"

"What?" cried Hay Lin. "Oh my gosh!"

"Ignore Irma, Hay Lin!" said Will. "She's just having fun with you!"

Turning to Irma, Will asked "You are, right?"

"Um, don't know, to tell the truth!" replied Irma. "Check out all the Sunflyers alighting on Cornelia! Why do the otherworldly beings always hit on her?"

"You're not actually jealous of Cornelia because a few Sunflyers use her for a perch, are you?" said an amused Will.

"Well, when you put it that way…" mumbled Irma.

"Will, check it out!" broke in Taranee. "I've found their leaders! They've been filling me in telepathically!"

"What do they say?" asked Will.

"Get this!" replied Taranee. "They've lived on this world a long time! To survive the extreme conditions, they evolved an ability to feed off what little lifeforce there is on the planet, which they call ShineDark, I guess because that's all they know. And everything was fine, until 'ol Wormie showed up. He was a rebel, and refused to, uh, what we just saw them do, turning into Sunflyers. They call it ascending. So they banished him!"

"They kicked him out?" commented Irma. "Serves him right!"

"But that wasn't the end of it!" added Will. "I bet he found a portal!"

"Yeah!" chipped in Cornelia. "To Phylia! Which his lifeforce-sucking power almost destroyed!"

"Hold on!" interrupted Irma. "I thought the Worm was actually Duke Caroc?"

"The Duke used magic to transform himself into a giant worm, remember?" theorized Taranee. "He must have used something as a template, and odds are it was their exile! Maybe they merged or something."

"Anyway, " continued Taranee, "according to the Sunflyers, a relatively short time ago, he came back. With some other being, and they were helpless to stop his takeover! And not only did he prevent them from ascending, he forced them to drain the life from us!"

"It must have been the Empress and her telepathic mind control tricks!" added Hay Lin.

"Exactly!" agreed Cornelia. "This whole place was a trap set for us!"

"Right!" said Taranee. "But Worm/Caroc couldn't completely stop the Sunflyers from reaching out to us."

"So that's why I wanted to dig in that particular spot!" replied Cornelia.

"And that's why they were crawling on us! I bet they were trying to give our lifeforce back! " added Will.

"Yeah, I wondered why we felt stronger when we woke up, even though we didn't have our powers back then." said Irma.

"I've got even better news than that, guys!" said the upbeat Taranee. "The Sunflyers know where we can get some water!"

"Ah ha!" exclaimed Cornelia to Irma, reveling in being proven right. "I told you I'd find us water!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay!" muttered Irma. "What do you want - a medal?"

"You could admit I'm right - as usual!" crowed Cornelia. "But you don't have to. I'm too happy to care about that! In fact, I think I'll brighten this place up!"

"Huh?" said a confused Irma.

"You know, with flowers and plants?" answered Cornelia.

"Um, I don't think that's such a good idea." commented Irma.

"Why? Oh, don't be silly!" replied Cornelia, who then raised flowering plants all over the dusty, barren world, now a veritable garden, with petals blowing in the breeze.

And as soon as she did, the Sunflyers became greatly agitated.

"Uh oh." said Taranee.

"What's going on, Taranee?" asked Will. "What are they doing?"

"They're saying the...Sun Strand? I think they mean Cornelia..." said the telepathic Taranee.

"They're calling me Sun Strand?" commented Cornelia. "It must be because of my fabulous hair! That's so sweet!"

"...If I could finish?" snapped Taranee. "It's not good! They're saying you're using up all the world's lifeforce!"

"What??" said the mortified Cornelia.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Tell them I didn't mean it!" said Cornelia, as she removed all the plants from the landscape.

The Sunflyers calmed down and continued 'talking' to Taranee.

"They know you didn't mean it, Cornelia!" filled in Taranee. "It's okay."

"Huh. Interesting." continued Taranee.

"What is?" queried Will.

"They say that when they emerge, they eat the nutrients on the rocks." answered Taranee.

"So they do eat dust! I was right! And you were wrong, Corny!" bragged Irma.

"Not now, Irma!" replied the upset Cornelia.

"So...even?" offered Irma.

"What?" snapped Cornelia.

"I was wrong about the water, and now you're wrong about the plants!" pointed out Irma. "So now we're even!"

"Yes, okay!" admitted the defeated Cornelia. "I was wrong! You were right!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Irma.

"Let's never speak of it again!" replied Cornelia.

"Sure, Cornelia!" agreed the diplomatic Irma.

Then, under her breath, and from behind Cornelia, Irma smiles, raises her arms in victory and whispers "Yes!"

Turning around, Cornelia asks, "What was that?"

"Nothing." replied the innocent Irma.

"Are those two ever going to stop?" wondered Will to Taranee.

"Not in this world!" replied Taranee. "Or any other!"

After discovering water with information supplied by the Sunflyers, the Guardians realized their time was short and the next flyover of the space station was imminent, so they made their goodbyes to their new friends and prepared to set off on their journey home.

Some, though, had a harder time saying goodbye.

"Corny!" cried Irma to Cornelia, who still had a score of Sunflyers roosting on her. "Time to go! Come on, guys, leave 'ol sunhair alone! She already has a boyfriend!" said Irma, shooing away the Sunflyers.

"What is your problem?" wondered Cornelia.

"What?" said Irma, innocently. "I don't have a problem! You have such a suspicious mind!"

"Oh, you're right!" added Cornelia. "Let's just go!"

"Yes!" Irma gasped, thinking no one heard her.

Cornelia looked at Irma and smiled.

Irma, noticing the smile, asked "What?"

"Nothing." replied the still-beaming Cornelia.

"No, what?" demanded Irma.

But Cornelia held her tongue and...hummed.

Irma was first puzzled, then amused.

She began laughing, and Cornelia joined her.

Watching this, Will said "If I live to be a hundred, I'll never understand those two!"

"You're not the only one!" said Taranee. "And I'm supposed to be the smart one! Good news, though! The Sunflyers told me they and their descendants will watch over Worm/Caroc from now on, so he won't menace anyone ever again!"

"That's great, Taranee! Really." replied Will, who then brought them all down to Earth, figuratively speaking, that is. "Now all we have to do is get to a ship miles above us in space, shut down the Empress for good and, oh yeah, hope we find a way back home!"

"Yeah, I..." started the sober Taranee, before she was interrupted.

"Guys! Look!" enthused Hay Lin. "The Sunflyers are giving us a special goodbye!"

The performance put on by the Sunflyers put to shame their earlier display.

It was an aerial ballet of color, movement and form.

It was fireworks without the sound.

It was...spectacular.

And it had the power to lift even the darkest of spirits.

So, as they set off on the last leg of their journey, the most difficult part, the one that will (hopefully) lead them home, the Guardians waved goodbye to their new friends.

And in their hearts they knew that, even should they fail and never make it back to their loved ones, their visit to ShineDark would still be considered a success.

"Hey!" interjected Hay Lin. "I just realized! Those Sunflyers Taranee was 'talking' to? There were five of them! And the one in front had a shiny thing right in the middle! Do you think they were this world's Guardians?"

"That could be, Hay Lin!" said Will, the smiling Keeper of the Heart of Candracar, as she stroked the magical pendant that has become a part of her soul. "That very well could be."

_Next:_

_The big showdown with…Danny Nova?_

'_Cept it's Lord Halidan now! Uh oh!_

_And why is everyone acting like Will's the bad guy?_

_All this and the wrapup to the first cycle of original Guardians adventures!_

Notes

The scrying is from W.I.T.C.H. Adventures Heartbreak Island (and I think it was in the comic, also).

The world of ShineDark was inspired by 1) Mercury, which at one time was thought to be have one side dark and icy cold, one side light and hot, although planetary probes revealed a much more normal world, 2) comets, which are mostly ice and melt/dissipate when they approach the sun, and 3) The Chronicles of Riddick's Crematoria, which was a very, very hot world (and volcanic) and not icy at all (although it did have snow). But it did have the sunrise/burning scene. Obviously, ShineDark isn't as hot, or the Guardians would be instant toast, special Guardian powers or no.

My original concept of this story didn't have any Sunflyers in it. Their addition changes what was a Guardian-tinged survival tale into a full-fledged Guardian story, and explains where the Worm came from, to boot!

The Worm's selfish, non-empathic, I-don't-care-about-anyone-but-me nature is more chilling than your typical evil villain who delights in hurting people, because it's more real and relatable.

When Irma gets her powers back, she can, for a brief moment, condense a bit of water from the water vapor in the atmosphere. But it's temporary, and not enough for her or the others to drink. That's why they have to find water. Their Guardian forms help them survive and give them vitality and strength (you or I would never survive under these conditions), but they still need the H2O.

Just as _Stolen_ _Spring_ was Cornelia's spotlight adventure, she has a prominent role in this story, too. She gets to be the big hero, but I also balance that by having her mess up.

Irma's the odd girl out, since her Adventure novel was never released (in English). So I have to think of ways to get her involved. Notice her 'survival training' in The Queen Of Infinity came into play here. She was unable to form water in a desert in her non-powered form, but on ShineDark's hot desert, while de-powered, she did achieve a victory of sorts since she managed to create water so Cornelia could continue the search for their salvation. She seemed the weakest, but actually Irma was the strongest. Heck, just being able to form any amount of water in that environment is a testament to her strength of will!

Taranee was ironically the weakest in ShineDark's hot section. It was so hot, it was a case of heat/flame overload. Simple physics. There's nowhere to put the excess heat. (Hot water freezes quicker than cold water).

The world of ShineDark challenges all of the Guardians. Hay Lin had the dust storm, and Will's challenge is in the next story (her spotlight story).

The whole Cornelia/Irma bickering wasn't planned either, and blew up as I wrote the story. They do have an interesting relationship (and by relationship, I don't mean the romantic kind). There's always been a certain tension between them, even though they've known each other and been good friends (even the best of friends) for years. I think the tension is mainly due to the fact that their personalities are so different, but my story reveals another reason - that Irma feels like she's in competition with Cornelia. Not only that, but she thinks she's on the losing side of the competition. And now Cornelia realizes this, too, although she thinks it's silly. Where it goes from here, who knows?

If I may be permitted a superhero analogy, Cornelia and Irma are the Superman and Batman of the team, Hay Lin is the Flash, Will is Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter combined, and Taranee is Reed Richards. Okay, he's Fantastic Four, not Justice League. But I'm speaking of team dynamics, not…Ah, never mind! The point is, there are certain archetypes at work here.

He's called a Worm in _Stolen Spring_, but there's no segmenting of his body and he oozes slime. Sounds like a slug to me. And, this is news to me since I wrote the story before I found this out, but slug caterpillars do exist.

When last seen in _Stolen Spring_, Caroc the Worm was tiny, and stuck trying to eat his own tail. I guess the girls should have taken care of him more permanent-like. Instead, they let him flounder around on Phylia, which allowed the Empress to recruit him for her anti-Guardians team.

If this world is indeed at 'the end of the universe', then that means it was 'first out of the gate' when the Big Bang happened, which makes it the oldest world in the universe and theoretically could have hosted the oldest civilization in the universe.

I re-wrote the original story to include mention of the astral drops (important for the next series), to add a Guardian transformation scene (just for the hell of it) and to totally re-do the release of the Sunflyers. The original, where Will effortlessly released them, bothered me but I wrote it off because I was far more concerned with telling the rest of the story. I also added the blinding Empress scene, which serves to remind readers about the main vllain and adds something to the next tale.


End file.
